After his haul of five stage victories at the Tour of California, Tuesday’s win was the Slovak’s eighth in less than a month. The rules of cycling, it seems, have been condensed to just one: the peloton races for almost 200 kilometres, and in the end, Sagan wins in the sprint.

With 6 kilometres to go here, it briefly appeared as though the 22-year-old might for once be thwarted, as escapees Greg Van Avermaet (BMC), Martin Elminger (Ag2r-La Mondiale) and Lars-Petter Nordhaug (Sky) held a 35-second lead over the reduced peloton, but a lengthy stint of pace-making from Liquigas’ Moreno Moser helped reel them in ahead of the finish.

“I have to thank Moreno for helping me so much, today the win is thanks to him,” Sagan said as he waited to mount the podium.

Once the juncture was made inside the final three kilometres, there was an ineluctable feel about the sequence of events. Only Vladimir Gusev (Katusha) and then Jakob Fuglsang (RadioShack-Nissan) raged briefly against the dying of the light, but their attacks were deftly quenched by Moser.

In the final sprint, Marcus Burghardt (BMC) made a bold attempt to anticipate Sagan by opening his effort early. In vain. With 200 metres to go, Sagan lifted himself from the saddle and moved past remorselessly to take the win.

José Joaquin Rojas (Movistar) dived gamely for Sagan’s rear wheel, but it eluded his grasp, ghosting away inexorably to the line. Indeed, if anything, Rojas’ move seemed mainly to upset the sprint of his fellow countryman Oscar Freire (Katusha), who could only manage 9th.

Rojas came home in second, ahead of Michael Albasini (Orica-GreenEdge), with Heinrich Haussler (Garmin-Barracuda) coming across the line in fourth, but nobody was ever able to threaten Sagan’s striking pre-eminence.

“No win is easy but I’m very happy,” Sagan said. “I’m very glad that I was able to take the right wheel in the sprint.”

There was no change at the head of the overall standings, even though the conditions and the undulating finale saw the peloton whittled down to just 60 before the finish. Rui Costa (Movistar) retains his 8-second lead over Fränk Schleck (RadioShack-Nissan), while Roman Kreuziger (Astana) remains in third, 15 seconds back.

Attacking finale

While a number of riders attempted to slip clear after the damp, grey start in Aarberg, it was not until the 1st category climb of the Scheltenpass (81.5km) that the principal break of the day took shape, with Dario Cataldo (Omega Pharma-Quick Step), Mathew Hayman (Sky), Martin Kohler (BMC), Gregory Rast (RadioShack Nissan), Ruben Perez (Euskaltel), Sebastien Minard (AG2R), Sergio Paulinho (Saxo Bank), Javier Megías (Team Type 1) and Brian Vandvorg (Spidertech) going clear.

Cataldo began the stage just 1:15 off Rui Costa’s (Movistar) overall lead, which meant that the escapees were never granted much leeway by the peloton behind. By the time the race reached the finishing circuit at Trimbach/Olten with 40km to go, their lead was just 2 minutes, and their unity was shattered on the 3rd category Unter Hauenstein.

A flurry of attacking did little other than see their gap to the bunch dwindle to just 25 seconds and on the way down the other side, Nordhaug clipped off the head of the peloton and set off in lone pursuit. By the base of the descent, he was alone in front, while Cataldo, the only survivor of the early leaders, had been joined by Elminger and Van Avermaet.

Atop the final climb of the Salhöhe with 15km to race, Nordhaug had 30 seconds on the reduced peloton, while Van Avermaet and Elminger had shed themselves of Cataldo and were grimly closing the gap in driving rain. In spite of the diminished numbers behind, the overall contenders remained tentative as Albasini, Fränk Schleck (RadioShack-Nissan), Roman Kreuziger (Astana) and overall leader Rui Costa (Movistar) closely watched one another on the climb.

Movistar’s lack of numbers in the group meant that they were unwilling to take up the chase on the run-in, a stalemate which initially allowed the three leaders (who finally came together with 7 kilometres to go) to stretch out their lead. But when Katusha, Garmin-Barracuda and, particularly, Liquigas’ Moser began to commit themselves, the picture changed dramatically and the stage swung inevitabily back into Sagan’s orbit.